During his visit, the world-renowned novelist will lecture at the Yerevan State University, meet with Armenian writers and artists, and participate in the October 6 Hamazkayin-organized ceremony, which will mark the publication of the first Armenian-language translation of "The Alchemist."

In an October 2003 interview with Coelho, Aztag's Mouradian asked the author if he loses "faith in mankind when you come face to face with the facts of such atrocities [as the Jewish Holocaust and Armenian genocide]?" to which he responded: "Three days before receiving this interview, I was talking to my driver in Paris, who happens to be Armenian, that I wish to go and visit his country. I am fully aware of the genocide, of the Armenian diaspora, and I want to know--and to share--the situation of Armenia now. He is sending me what he considers to be the best books on Armenia, and as soon as I finish, I will probably go with him to his town. As for the faith on humankind, I am part of it, and if I lose faith in myself, I am not worth living. Therefore, instead of blaming an abstraction, I should accept my responsibility, and fight to change what can be changed."